Corona effect in Hyderabad

10% drop in RTC revenues

Hyderabad: With the outbreak of Coronavirus in the city, there is a slight fall in the revenue in TSTRC buses. According to the TSRTC officials, there is a 10 percent drop in revenue in the past five days and due to the spreading of virus people stop using public transport.

Speaking to THI, V Venkateshwarlu, Executive Director, Hyderabad Zone, TSRTS, said, "Out of fear of the Coronavirus many people have canceled their journey. In the past 5 days, there was a slight drop in revenue. As on February 29, TSRTC has received a revenue of Rs 3.25 lakh and on March 5 it received Rs 2.48 lakh. As compared to all other public transports buses are the cheapest transport but due to the fear of spreading the virus, people are preferring to travel in their own vehicles or are staying indoors."

Falling revenues

February 29 - Rs 3.25 lakh

March 1 – Rs 2.62 lakh

March 2 Rs 2.92 lakh

March 3- Rs 2.57 lakh

March 4- Rs 2.40 lakh

March 5- Rs 2.48 lakh

Metro rail too impacted

In spite of the measures including cleaning metro rail coaches and stations and wide publicity, people are wary of taking the metro rail. There has been a drop of 15,000 in footfalls, said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

SCR gets into fast mode

Secunderabad: Apart from sprucing up the Secunderabad Railway Station, the South Central Railway took several steps such as setting up an isolation ward at zonal railway hospital and six divisional hospitals. Training of medical personnel for handling suspected patients of corona virus is planned. Regular public announcements at all important Railway Stations are being made for sensitising Rail users to undertake preventive measures with respect to corona virus.

No need to panic

Government officials from the Health Minister Etala Rajender, Principal Secretary IT and Industries Jayesh Ranjan and several others are calling upon people not to panic. The common man, it seems, is overdoing the 'I'm scared' bit. In the meantime, IT employees returned to work and are heaving a huge sigh of relief after knowing that those who were tested were not affected with the virus.

Doctors have been advising people not to sound the alarm bell and just take simple precautions by keeping the surroundings and oneself clean. However, people have gone on a buying spree and as a result, sanitisers in several parts of the city are not in stock.

Ravi, a software engineer, said, "It is bordering on paranoia. In some offices, the AC is turned off and the windows are opened."